Crackling/Static noise when guitar turned up

B

BobbyJones

Member
Hey all,

I'm on PC Win 10. Grounded outlet and using a pure sine wave UPS.

I'm using SPDIF to connect the Axe to my Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 interface.

When I have my guitar turned up, just navigating around Axe Edit or anywhere on my PC causes this crackling/static/interference noise. Here is a recording:

https://instaud.io/3wv5

That's just me scrolling up and down on the mouse with Preset 55 'Dweezil's Bassguy'.

Problem is that this is going to come through on recordings and I don't know what to do. I know it's not specifically an Axe Fx issue but I hope that someone here could help. Part of me just wants to get a mac and move away from Windows but obviously... £££

Guitar turned down, this doesn't happen. I did move away from the PC with the guitar turned up and it was better but that's not exactly ideal - having to hit record, run away and play.

Any help on this would be appreciated. Has anyone here had this issue?
 
try making sure all things hooked into your computer are on the SAME Wall outlet. Seriously, the SAME wall outlet with multi strips etc...

That goes for printers, modems, network stuff if hard wired. Anything with a physical attachment to your computer.

I had an issue where a printer plugged into another outlet than the computer gave me grief because it caused a grounding issue. I isolated it down to that printer after a couple hours and unplugged the printer - the ground issue went away. Plugged the printer into the same power strip and there was still no ground issue.
 
FractalAudio said:
Get a better shielded computer.
Click to expand...

How exactly do I do that? This noise doesn't happen when the guitar volume knob is turned down - never happens when just listening to music etc... I take care and have quality equipment; the wall outlet is grounded and wired correctly.

Tbh, saying 'get a better shielded computer' isn't very helpful and is quite misleading/not specific - the solution to this could be a wide range of things and not directly to do with my PC itself. It could be cables, the audio interface, my electrics, my guitar pickups.... There could also be a simple fix to shielding my PC properly and not having to buy a ‘better one’. I'm asking here for any valid advice. Thanks for the input though.

Conley Shepherd said:
try making sure all things hooked into your computer are on the SAME Wall outlet. Seriously, the SAME wall outlet with multi strips etc...

That goes for printers, modems, network stuff if hard wired. Anything with a physical attachment to your computer.

I had an issue where a printer plugged into another outlet than the computer gave me grief because it caused a grounding issue. I isolated it down to that printer after a couple hours and unplugged the printer - the ground issue went away. Plugged the printer into the same power strip and there was still no ground issue.
Click to expand...

Thanks man - I've got everything set up already as you suggested.
 
Last edited:
Hi Bobby,
To confirm shielding is an issue, move your guitar away from the computer (like stand 20 feet from it), and get someone else to move the mouse. If the issue is reduced or gone, it could be bad shielding of the PC case. Another issue could be your video card/driver affecting resources used by the Axe FX although I would assume (if this was the case), the guitars volume control shouldnt affect is. To confirm this, Disconnect the SPDIF, and listen to the axex fx with headphones. Again, move the mouse and if you don't hear the problem, you might want to look at removing/reinstalling the AXE FX driver.
Anyway - things to try - hope you get it resolved.
Thanks
Pauly
 
pauly said:
Hi Bobby,
To confirm shielding is an issue, move your guitar away from the computer (like stand 20 feet from it), and get someone else to move the mouse. If the issue is reduced or gone, it could be bad shielding of the PC case. Another issue could be your video card/driver affecting resources used by the Axe FX although I would assume (if this was the case), the guitars volume control shouldnt affect is. To confirm this, Disconnect the SPDIF, and listen to the axex fx with headphones. Again, move the mouse and if you don't hear the problem, you might want to look at removing/reinstalling the AXE FX driver.
Anyway - things to try - hope you get it resolved.
Thanks
Pauly
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Thanks very much Pauly. I can confirm that moving away with the guitar volume up does lose the interference noise.

So, my PC case may not be shielded properly. Any advice on what to check here?
 
Second the last two posts on the mouse.

On the case itself - does it have one of those beautiful display windows, that allows you to see all the glory of internal LEDs and the magical CPU cooling fan lights...?

If so, it's gushing EMI like an open fire hydrant gushes water. Sometimes those cases come with an alternate metal panel. Not so pretty, but shields better.

Photos of the case *might* be useful. But a wireless mouse or keyboard (or any other wireless stuff on the machine) is certainly a good place to start.
 
BobbyJones said:
Tbh, saying 'get a better shielded computer' isn't very helpful and is quite misleading/not specific - the solution to this could be a wide range of things and not directly to do with my PC itself. It could be cables, the audio interface, my electrics, my guitar pickups.... There could also be a simple fix to shielding my PC properly and not having to buy a ‘better one’. I'm asking here for any valid advice. Thanks for the input though.
Click to expand...
BobbyJones said:
So, my PC case may not be shielded properly. Any advice on what to check here?
Click to expand...
Wow, that was a quick turnaround... Maybe the creator of the device you purchased actually knows what he's talking about ;)
 
I know when I am facing the rack I have, something in the rack is bleeding something. In the crunchier patches, the guitar gets a bit of noise. As I turn away from the rack, the noise goes quieter. But playing also removes that noise - it gets covered by crunch!
 
I had a similar problem with both my analog and digital setup. When I'm at the desk recording, guitar pickups tend to pickup noise as well. Guitar volume pot turned down, hum/noise gone.

I have a MacBook Pro, so case shielding wasn't an issue. To debug the problem, I started moving around the guitar and see where the noise increased, and it turned out the source of the annoying hum was a couple of power supplies (MacBook and external monitor power adapters) I kept under the desk, in a sort of a tank which is supposed to hold cables and adapters.

I solved the issue by shielding the desk tank with copper foil and, mostly important, by moving the power adapters as far as possible away from the pickups.
 
Denny99 said:
it turned out the source of the annoying hum was a couple of power supplies
Click to expand...
Happened to me too.

Plugged the power supply into the front of rack and had bad noise (but not always).

Plugged it in at the back and it was fine.

Just moving it a couple feet from the guitar was all that was needed.
 
BobbyJones said:
How exactly do I do that? This noise doesn't happen when the guitar volume knob is turned down - never happens when just listening to music etc... I take care and have quality equipment; the wall outlet is grounded and wired correctly.

Tbh, saying 'get a better shielded computer' isn't very helpful and is quite misleading/not specific - the solution to this could be a wide range of things and not directly to do with my PC itself. It could be cables, the audio interface, my electrics, my guitar pickups.... There could also be a simple fix to shielding my PC properly and not having to buy a ‘better one’. I'm asking here for any valid advice. Thanks for the input though.



Thanks man - I've got everything set up already as you suggested.
Click to expand...
My laptop does this as well. It is emitting EMI/RFI and there’s no fix for it, other than getting far away from it. Are you using a desktop or a laptop? If it’s a desktop, it might just be your monitor, in which case you can try getting different one with better shielding. If it’s a laptop, you can connect it to an external (shielded) monitor and use a wireless mouse and keyboard, which is what I do.
 
Hooligan said:
My laptop does this as well. It is emitting EMI/RFI and there’s no fix for it, other than getting far away from it. Are you using a desktop or a laptop? If it’s a desktop, it might just be your monitor, in which case you can try getting different one with better shielding. If it’s a laptop, you can connect it to an external (shielded) monitor and use a wireless mouse and keyboard, which is what I do.
Click to expand...
Wireless mouse/keyboard can also be very noisy;)
 
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